Standard Terran Calendar 976.M30, Day 321, 11:33.
Edge of the Aurelian System, Asteroid Belt Cover Zone, Bridge of the Strike Cruiser Dawn's Light.
A giant, golden hand swept across the smooth surface of the tactical holotable, data refreshing in Paul's dark gold pupils.
He stood on the bridge of the Dawn's Light, an Olympia-class strike cruiser freshly redeemed from the System Store.
Beneath his feet, he could feel the plasma engine deep within the hull pulsing like the heartbeat of a behemoth.
The 5.5-kilometer-long vessel hovered silently in the void, resembling a predator lurking in the shadows of the sea of stars.
"Cogboy's move really drained the twenty-seven billion Imperial Coins we looted clean dry," Paul's voice echoed through his Custodian helmet, carrying a hint of awe.
He turned to his side, where Tax Bro, White Scars, and the others stood.
A holographic projection unfolded before the crowd, displaying the complete parameters of the Dawn's Light.
[Ship Name: Dawn's Light][Class: Olympia-class Strike Cruiser][Length: 5.5 Kilometers]
[Primary Armament:]
Prow Twin-Linked Macrocannon Battery x1.
Broadside Lascannon Batteries x12.
Carrier Hangar: Capacity for 30 Thunderhawk Gunships / 20 Stormraven Gunships.
[Special Modifications:]
Super Stealth Optical Module (System Store Exclusive): Distorts light and energy signatures around the hull, appearing as background radiation fluctuations under standard scans. When active, reduces the probability of detection by active optical observation by 87%.
Adaptive Livery System: Can swap to preset paint schemes within 30 seconds, including Standard Imperial Navy Grey, Ultramarines Blue, and Iron Hands Silver.
[Cost: 9.999 Billion Imperial Coins]
[This vessel is the first flagship strike cruiser of the Crimson Dawn. May the Light of Dawn illuminate the darkness of deep space.]
"Nine point nine-nine-nine billion..." Tax Bro clicked his tongue, his face caught between painful reluctance and sheer excitement. "We looted thirteen hive warehouses and nearly got targeted by Sanguinius just to scrape together twenty-seven billion. This one ship burned through nearly half of it. But it's totally worth it."
[I am not the Regent, I'm Just Passing By Guilliman] spoke up, "A strike cruiser belonging entirely to our Crimson Dawn, combined with this Super Stealth Optical Module, allowed us to brazenly sail right out of Aurelian IV's low-orbit without being detected by the Red Tear fleet."
He pulled up the navigation logs.
The holographic projection showed that two hours ago, the Dawn's Light ignited its thrusters over the Kent Hive and flew directly through the Blood Angels fleet's surveillance zone.
The red dots representing the Blood Angels' warships came as close as eight hundred kilometers, yet not a single one issued an interrogation signal.
"This gives us the perfect cover to masquerade as a fleet directly under the Emperor's command," he continued. "After all, in the Emperor's bloated and massive bureaucracy, a mysterious fleet suddenly popping up with special orders and bizarre paint schemes might raise some eyebrows, but it's vastly more believable than a local civilian militia suddenly pulling a fully-functional strike cruiser out of their asses."
Paul nodded, his gaze sweeping over the bustling players on the bridge.
These Fourth Scourges, who once agonized over a 0.3 Imperial Coin breathing tax, were now completely reborn.
Astartes clad in power armor sporting various Legion colors, Grey Knights in silver-grey psychic aegis armor, Brothers of Silence in matte black, Tech-Priests with half-mechanical bodies...
They operated the bridge consoles, monitored engine statuses, and adjusted weapon parameters.
Their movements might have been a bit rusty, but the sheer eager-to-frag energy of gamers loading into their first high-tier competitive match was incredibly palpable.
"Cogboy thought this through from every angle," Paul announced, his voice carrying across the bridge. "This way, we can openly join the war on Aurelian IV without drawing suspicion to the superhuman might of the Crimson Dawn. After all, the Crimson Dawn's PDF ground forces are currently fighting shoulder-to-shoulder with the Blood Angels in the Aru Industrial Zone. This creates a solid alibi, effectively separating the local ground defense forces from the sudden appearance of our orbital reinforcements."
He opened the regional chat interface and spoke into the channel, "So, from this moment on! We are the Emperor's hidden legion! An unidentified fleet operating under special directives to handle the anomaly in the Aurelian system!"
The massive horde of players was currently shitposting and memeing in the chat, completely devoid of any tension before a major battle.
Paul watched the messages scrolling through the channel and asked in a deep voice, "Is everyone crystal clear on our cover identity?"
"Crystal clear!" the mass of players responded in unison within the regional channel.
"Don't worry, Paul bro!" Tax Bro grinned widely, patting the bolter at his waist as he spoke into the regional channel. "Our battle cry is just three words."
Every single player spammed the exact same three words across the regional chat.
"For the Emperor!"
These declarations included the players who had opted for Dreadnought cybernetic augmentation.
A hundred steel giants, including [I Want to be a Steel Behemoth], stood in the carrier hangar. Piloting their 4.5-meter-tall Contemptor Dreadnought chassis, they let out low, resonating hums like engines pre-heating.
They were itching for a fight.
Paul turned around, facing the primary observation viewport.
Outside the window, the greyish-yellow planet of Aurelian IV hung silently in the void.
The southern hemisphere, home to the City of the Holy Anthem, was shrouded in a bizarre blue-purple fog, while the northern hemisphere's Aru Industrial Zone radiated a sickly green glow.
"Good." He slammed his giant golden hand onto the tactical table, his Watcher's Axe leaning against his pauldron. "In that case... let's move out. Time to join the war."
--
Meanwhile, deep within the underhive of the City of the Holy Anthem.
Sacken Alar stood atop a pile of rubble.
Two pairs of translucent psychic wings fully extended from his back, every single feather burning with materialized purple flames.
Dense clusters of purple tentacles writhed madly within his old, ruptured scars, weaving into profane runes of Tzeentch that extended all the way up his neck and across his chest.
Before him, a Warp rift—its diameter having expanded to a massive one hundred and twenty meters—pulsated like a living entity.
The interior of the rift was no longer just a simple blue-purple fog; it now revealed scenes from the very depths of Tzeentch's demonic realm.
Billions of crystal labyrinths stacked and reconfigured themselves, while countless self-turning books hovered in the air.
Tens of millions of eyes blinked within a sea of knowledge, and tens of millions of mouths whispered forgotten truths and meticulously woven lies.
"It is done... It is finally done..."
Sacken's voice trembled, not from fear, but from the most extreme, unadulterated ecstasy.
He spread his arms wide, the pale purple carapace on his skin shimmering with iridescence as it was washed over by Warp energies.
"Lord Aetaos! Do you see this?!"
From deep within the rift, the massive, avian phantom of the Lord of Change, Aetaos, slowly manifested.
Three pairs of eyes simultaneously locked onto Sacken, carrying a gaze of approval and... a faint, almost imperceptible glimmer of calculation.
"I see it, Sacken. You have done exceptionally well."
Aetaos's voice echoed directly within his soul, a cacophony blending countless overlapping pitches. "Eighty years of hatred, thirty days of scheming, the soul sacrifices of over five hundred psykers, and the despair and death of war accumulated over the two days Sanguinius has been trapped... All of this kindling has finally ignited a flame bright enough to allow the Twin-Plumed Daemon Lords to descend."
Sacken breathed heavily. "When... will they..."
"Now."
As soon as Aetaos finished speaking, the space in the center of the rift abruptly tore apart like silk ripped by an invisible hand!
The first entity poked its head out.
It was a raven-hawk-like head, its beak as sharp as the purest forged obsidian, the surface etched with ever-changing psychic runes. Its eyes were not physical, but rather two swirling stellar vortexes reflecting billions of unrealized future possibilities.
The head slowly extended, followed by a long, gaunt neck covered in smooth, eerie blue scales.
Then came the limbs.
Its arms were long to the point of deformity, the claws gaunt, made of a material resembling both obsidian and solidified Warp energy. Slime dripping from the tips landed on the ruined ground, instantly corroding the rubble into holes hissing with blue smoke.
Its legs ended in raptor-like talons that landed completely silently, as if it could briefly glide in the interstices between the Warp and reality.
The most striking feature was its back.
A pair of iridescent mist-wings violently unfurled!
The quills were twisted psychic crystals flowing with liquid blue energy inside. The vanes were a translucent mist, their colors shifting with its emotions and psychic fluctuations. These feathers were not fixed physical entities; they would sometimes dissolve into a pervasive Warp mist used to conceal its form or create illusions potent enough to drive mortals insane. At other times, they would recombine and solidify, matching the hardness of master-crafted ceramite.
It stepped entirely out of the rift.
Its height reached an astonishing 12.8 meters.
Its build was as slender as withered bamboo in the wind, its skeleton seemingly condensed from pure Warp energy, its eerie blue scales interspersed with twinkling, star-like psychic veins. Just by standing there, the surrounding reality began to fluctuate unstably; light distorted, and sound became muffled.
Aetaos's voice echoed with an introduction, "Mist-Weaver Calidus, Greater Daemon. Psychic Specializations: Warp Mist Manipulation, Thread of Fate Interference, Psychic Illusion Manifestation, Short-Range Warp Jumps. It is the mist of knowledge, the shadow of prophecy, the avatar... that plunges all plans into chaos."
Sacken looked up at the behemoth, his soul trembling in awe of the Greater Daemon's power.
But the rift's expansion did not stop.
A second aura erupted with a bang!
Searing and violent, it was filled with a craving to incinerate all order!
A head squeezed its way out!
A falcon-like head with a serrated beak, each tooth glowing with the red-hot light of molten metal. This thing could effortlessly rip through the ceramite plating of power armor. Its eyes were two burning balls of Warp fire, with miniature galaxies being born and destroyed within.
It let out its first screech, a sound like the deafening roar of curling, exploding pages from tens of millions of libraries burning all at once.
Following the head were arms as thick as siege rams, covered in a crimson-gold carapace that resembled flowing magma. The claws were molten Warp metal; when opened slightly, the tips spewed psychic flames hot enough to vaporize steel.
Its legs were thick and heavy, and the instant they hit the ground—
BOOM!!!
The raptor talons shattered the ground, reducing the concrete and rebar within a ten-meter radius to fine powder. A shockwave, carrying a blast of scorching air, swept across the ruins. Even Sacken had to unfurl his psychic wings to shield himself.
This stomp also carried a fiery trample effect, igniting inextinguishable Warp flames at the point of impact.
It fully revealed itself.
It stood a towering 14.5 meters tall.
Its build was robust, muscles formed from solidified Warp fire, and the crimson-gold veins on its surface radiating a psychic heatwave that distorted the air.
Its wings were plumes of cinder and ash.
The skeleton was formed from pitch-black Chaos alloy, the vanes were a burning crimson-gold, and the edges were wreathed in Warp fire.
A single feather detached, floating down gently. The moment it touched the ground—
BANG!
It exploded into a three-meter-wide ball of crimson fire. And after that feather detonated, new fire energy gathered in its original spot on the wing, slowly regenerating.
Aetaos continued his introduction, his voice brimming with amusement, "Cinder-Burner Ignis, Greater Daemon. Psychic Specializations: Cinder-Fire Storm, Order Disintegration, Avatar of Flames, Soul Ignition. It is the flame that incinerates knowledge, the tyrant that shatters rules, the... Executioner of Destruction that turns everything to ash."
The two Greater Daemons, one of mist and one of fire, one treacherous and one violent, stood shoulder to shoulder amidst the ruins.
The psychic pressure they exuded forced all the Corrupted in the area to grovel on the ground; even the fallen psykers shivered from fear at the soul level.
Sacken burst into manic laughter, "The Twin-Plumed Daemon Lords! More than enough to fulfill my long-cherished wish of destroying this world and heavily wounding Sanguinius! No... not just that! I want that Archangel to watch with his own eyes as his gene-sons are bewildered by the mist and have their bodies incinerated by the flames! I will make him taste the very torment my family endured all those years ago!"
"Sacken. Don't be so hasty. Everything is going exactly according to plan," Aetaos interrupted him. The three pairs of eyes on the massive avian phantom simultaneously looked toward the Aru Industrial Zone, his gaze profound, "Our ally... has also finally squeezed its way out."
--
Yup still going up, currently on Rank 24.
Keep the stones coming, I will post bonus chapter as soon as we reach goal!
Next goal is 300 Powerstones btw.